Conveyer for sheets of materials.



P. RUDOLPHI.

OONVEYBR FOR SHEETS OF MATERIALS. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 9, 1912.

'31,,1@4 5% Patgnted July 21, 1914. E91

UNllTElD STla llllltl ll l l @i FRANK RUDOLPHI, 0F Ii/IONTCLAIR, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN CAN COMPANY,0F YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

CONVEYER FOR SHEETS OF MATERIALS. I

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 21, 11914.

Application filed March 9, 1912. Serial No. 682,589.

To all 'u'laomi it may concern/.-

lle it known that I. FRANK Rnnonrnr, a citixen of the United States, residing in Illontclair. in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and use ful Improvement in Conveyors for Sheets of Materials, of which the following is a speci fication.

This invcntion relates to improvements in conveyors such as are used in dry kilns for drying lacquered and decorated plates used in the manufacture of can bodies and similar articles.

The object of this invention is to provide such a conveyor that will be cheap to manutacture, simple in design, and one that will not scratch or mar the plates when the same are placed onthe conveyor, and one wherein the plates may be guided easily and rapidly into position by the operator.

In conveyors of this type as formerly constructed, the carrying member has been pro vidcd with a plurality of spaced, vertically extending rods, and it has been the custom of the operator to place a sheet between the corresponding pairs of these rods. In practice, however, it has developed with this construction that the tops of the rods oft-en mar the lacquered and decorated plates, and furthermore, that it requires considerable skill for the operator to place the sheets of material in the proper pairs of rods, and also while the plates are being conveyed through the drying kiln, the plates having no'support except at each end, Sag in the middle and thus are likely to contact each other. I

One construction which l have shown in the drawings, and hereinafter described, embodying my invention, consists in a conveyer comprised of two spaced, parallelly arranged link chains, p1 ,aoly provided with anti-friction rollers and adapted to run/ over guides or a table, and a. plurality of equally spaced rods on each pair of links, said rods being in the form of an inverted. U shape. I

My invention. furtlicrmorc consists in the ln1]')l'()\'0ll'l(lllf5 in the parts and devices and in the novel combinations of parts and devices herein shown and (inscribed or claimed.

In the drawing Jorming a part of this specification, Figure I is a side elevation or a portion of a conveyor embodying my 1mprovements, showing in dotted lines the position assumed by the sheets when placed on the conveyer. F ig. 2 is a vertical section, taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1, and showing in dotted lines one of the sheets of material in place, and Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view of a portion of the convcyer, taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1.

In the drmvings, 1O denotes the conveyor, con'iprising a pair of spaced, parallelly arranged link chains 11, each of said chains being preferably provided with anti-friction rollers 12 secured to the pivots between adjacent links and adapted to run on guideways 13, The links or the chains 11 are arranged in pairs, and extending across from one link to the other are a plurality of equally spaced members or rods 14; secured at their ends in the links, said rods or members l-el beingin the form of an inverted U shape, having a slightly upwardly tapered ortion 15 at their center.

In operation, the sheets 16 are placed by the operator one between each pair of members 14, and owing to the rod being continuous from one chain to the other, it becomes impossible for the operator to misplace the sheets, and due to the upwardly extending central portion 15 of each member 14, the sheets are easily slipped into place, and fur-- thermore, the horizontally extending portion of. the inverted U-shaped member forms a support tor the central portion of the sheet as the same is being conveyed through the drying kiln and thus prevents sagging of the sheet. l urthermore, it will be ob- Yious there are no sharp points or ends to come into contact with the lacquered and decorated sheets or plates while the same are being slipped into position by the operator.

The structure which I have shown embodies one form of my invention, but it will be apparent that many changes and modifications may be made in the same without departing from the spirit of the invention, and all such changes and modifications are contemplated as fall within the scope of the appended-claim.

I claim It conveyor adapted to carry sheets of material coniprising, in combination, a chain l aving spaced, parallelly arranged links ar-' ranged in pairs, supporting means for said cha n, am a plurality of m mbers extending betwccn each pair of links, each of said members comprising an inverted, subsimrtinny U shaped member whereby a phu'aiity of sheets are adapted to be supported by each pair of links 01 the chain and retained by said. members separated from each othel the horizonai portion of the:

51121130 1 members serving; t0 01111 for the middle portion 0:"

FRANK Witnesses:

W. D. FOSTER,

C. W. GRAHAM the sheet;

sup BUN 

